June 6, day 34 Limekiln State Park to San Simeon Village

June 6, day 34 Limekiln State Park to San Simeon Village
Starting odo 7619

camping at Limekiln State Park

pretty, but pesky!

I get up and eat the various bits and pieces I happen to have for
breakfast.  The left over bit of french bread  with the cream cheese,
some butter cookies, a yoghurt, crackers - leftover companions to the
Marin Blue cheese, and some pecans.
The ranger tells me I haven't registered, I say I didn't know  what
the camping fee would be for bikes. Its $10, and I have  to vacate the
camping  spot by 11 because somebody is coming to use it. Since I'm
going to do the walk through at the slide site at dusk, I'll have to
wait the whole day  until starting to ride in the late afternoon.  Its
about an hour's ride to get to the slide site, which is blockaded at
the small town of Gorda.
I pack up the bike and vacate the campsite, which is reserved for that
day, and the Ranger lets me keep it in the kiosk for  the day.  I hike
around for a bit, and then go up to the road to use the chalk and
leave a  message for Shyam.  This does not really work, and consumes
nearly all the chalk!

looking down at Limekiln's beach

Looking around, I see a small trail that leads to a flat spot with a
wonderful view, and is shielded from the wind.  I lay out in the sun,
and its very nice.  When the wind blows, I'm a little cold, when its
still, its nicely warm.
After a while, I see a cyclist go by, and it might be Shyam.  Its a
bit too far for me to see and be sure.  I head back to get my bike and
start out.
Leaving the park about 4, I get to Gorda about 5 and hang out at the
store there, and then eat dinner at the restaurant.  There are no
other cyclists here, so the person I saw was not Shyam. There is wifi
there and I'm answering an email from Shyam, when Shyam walks in!  We
hang around for a while, then at 7:40 the workmen are going home and
we head for the slide area, which is about a mile down the road.

The mountain slid down and covered the road!

Its about to get dark!

We walk our bikes across with no trouble, but its now about 8pm, and
we have to decide what to do - camp here on the side of the road, or
ride into the night until we get to the next park.
I push for continuing, its a nice night, there will be virtually no
traffic, and we have a tailwind.
There are now four of us, me, Shyam, Ryan and Danny, and we push on
into a really nice evening of riding.  Its a magical night for me, as
my legs don't seem tired at all, and the two significant climbs we
have go by without me feeling them.  I plunge down twisty descents that would probably have terrified me during the day! The bike's light setup works great, and nearly every descent results in my gaining a couple of minutes on the others. The surf crashes in the dark,
and there is a faint shine of the moon on the water.  In the 30 miles
we rode, we were passed by 3 cars.
We end up at San Simeon Village at a motel 6 which we split 4 ways, to
a total of about $15 each.